The First Monkey Smallpox Case Found In Jakarta, Health Office Reminds Not Of Negative Stigma To Expel Health Workers From Kos Like The Beginning Of COVID-19

Illustration of health workers preparing medical equipment for COVID-19 patients. (Antara-Raisan Al Farisi)

JAKARTA - Head of the Disease Prevention and Control Division of the DKI Health Office (Dinkes) Dwi Oktavia asked the public not to reap the negative stigma against the first Indonesian monkeypox or monkeypox case found in Jakarta.

At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, a negative stigma emerged in the community for the first confirmed case of the corona virus. Then, the stigma also targets health workers (nakes).

"Don't let people stigmatize, because in the early days of COVID-19, some small groups experienced a negative stigma. For example, health workers were evicted from boarding houses," Dwi told reporters, Friday, August 26.

Dwi said that the COVID-19 pandemic, which had been going on for more than two years, had certainly taught health workers how to deal with monkeypox cases.

Thus, fear and the negative stigma of society towards confirmed people and health workers who handle monkeypox cases, according to Dwi, need not happen.

"Health workers in taking action have used good PPE, so they should not be shunned," said Dwi.

"In fact, we have to support the work of health workers. They try to manage patients who come well, including tracing so that they can be supported when there are people who have to be interviewed because they may have a history of close contact and need to be monitored every day, please also support the community," he continued. .

Furthermore, Dwi explained, basically it is enough for people to adopt a clean and healthy lifestyle to avoid diseases that are usually transmitted through direct contact.

There are four clean and healthy living behaviors as recommended by experts, namely frequently washing hands with running water and soap, then not using towels or personal utensils together.

Furthermore, avoid having contact with anyone who has symptoms, including abstaining from sexual intercourse with multiple partners. And, for sufferers, it is necessary to self-isolate properly to avoid transmission to others.

"I leave a message that people don't need to panic but be vigilant. Then, apply clean and healthy behavior and wash hands. Because this transmission is usually through contact lesions, the habit of washing hands with running water and soap or hand sanitizer must be maintained," " he said.